Foong Speaks Her Mind

So Pakatan Rakyat is a marriage of convenience between DAP, PKR and PAS to be a better coalition than BN. All seemed hunky dory from the front but do they really get along? Just look at the possibility (or is it emergence?) of froggies in recent times.

PKR is all for party hopping, in fact, they encouraged BN MPs to defect and hop over to Pakatan anytime, preferably around this time.

You jump, I jump

However, it seems that certain leaders in DAP are not so accepting of hopping frogs. They don’t seem so fond of frogs at all. I am not making baseless accusations here. Here’s the proof…

DAP prefer elections to defections

See? Okay, so you may ask who is one DAP leader compared to the whole party right? Err…what if it is the DAP national chairman who said the same thing?

DAP backs anti-hopping law

Karpal said DAP don’t welcome renegades to the party but PKR is all for it.

Do the leaders of all three parties agree to the same principles, policies, etc? Or they had jumped into it without really discussing about policies, principles, etc? What about code of conduct? Did they rush into this ‘marriage’ blindly?

Well, I think they did rush into it. They should have gotten some things ironed out before taking the leap. Now, the PKR de facto leader is going all out to oust BN of the federal government with the help of defections or frogs. So, I wonder whatever happened to Karpal’s ‘We don’t welcome renegades to the party’? Does that mean it only applies to DAP and not Pakatan Rakyat? But isn’t DAP part of Pakatan?  Or are they planning to follow after BN where its components can say one thing and mean another thing…

Let’s not even go into some of the differing views between DAP and PAS. Whatever it is, I feel that DAP and PKR and PAS, as the members of Pakatan Rakyat, must work out all the tiny details of their ‘marriage’.

After all, they don’t want to leave more chance for the BN to attack their credibility, do they?

BN had 51 years and still, there are so much problems within the coalition. Pakatan Rakyat is fairly new. A newborn, in fact. So it is still fresh enough to clear up any gray areas and disparity in policies. It will be much easier for it to change and be better and stronger than BN.

As we all know, it is much easier for a baby to learn new things than for a 51-year-old.

News update:

By the way, Teresa Kok has finally been released!

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Updated as at Aug 27:

Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim wins big with a total 31,195 votes beating Datuk Arif Shah Omar Shah, who garnered 15,524 votes, while the unknown Akim fella, Hanafi Hamat wasted his RM15,000 deposit when he only got 92 votes.

Original post:

Today is D day.

Although Datuk Arif Shah said he is calmer than in the general elections, I don’t think others feel that way. Even Malaysiakini is inundated, so much so that its website is almost inaccessible.

Seems like all eyes are on the tiny li’l town of Permatang Pauh. Last night, it was reported that a huge crowd turned up for Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s final rally before the midnight deadline.

In a last-ditch bid for votes before a midnight curb on campaigning, Anwar held a huge gathering tonight that drew some 10,000 people by late evening with many more streaming in despite drizzling rain.

- Malaysiakini

Considering the mammoth crowd at the final day rally, is it a sign that Anwar will indeed get to go back to Parliament and await Sept 16?

But then it is oft said that a huge turnout at rallies rarely meant that it could be translated into votes. One will never know what the voter thinks.

Of course the word is that DSAI will emerge victorious but again, we never know. The Barisan Nasional has thrown every known trick, dirty or otherwise, to ensure his lost. So, who will win this battle?

Well, Anwar is certain that he will win

The charismatic 61-year-old, who was sacked as deputy premier in 1998 and spent six years in jail on sodomy and corruption charges, said he was still on track to unseat the government by mid-September with the help of defectors.

“Yes, there are MPs in the ruling party that have expressed support for me,” he told a press conference.

- Malaysiakini

However, his BN opponent Datuk Arif Shah is certain that he’d win with a slim majority:

On the other hand, Arif Shah, who believes he can win with a slim majority, is well liked by the locals.

- Malaysiakini

Oh, well. Whatever their predictions. I guess we will know by tonight. No, wait, let’s make it early tomorrow morning because there’s bound to be lots of recount!

As for my predictions, I dare not predict anything. What with extreme money politics, dirty politics and all sorts of tricks being used, it is very hard to say.

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The Permatang Pauh by-election is progressing much more violently as I expected it would be. Though the Pakatan Rakyat leaders have been saying this could be the work of other groups out to sabotage the party, I think they should really check out their own members first.

Early this month, some of their supporters or members assaulted a female photographer from Guang Ming Daily and the top leadership, including Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah, had to publicly apologise to the photographer.

Then on nomination day, it is even worse. Two photographers were attacked and one of them even lost his camera to the hooligans who attacked him.

(Clockwise from top, left) A group surrounds several Barisan Nasional workers in a pick-up truck. Mohamad Sairien Mohamad Nafiz (in helmet) jumps on the vehicle to photograph the mob. He is then attacked and pulled to the ground where he is repeatedly kicked; before finally being rescued. - NST

Mohamad Sairien, 26, who suffered bodily injuries, also lost his RM15,000 Canon digital camera, while Berbar of the Kuala Lumpur-based HBL Press News Agency sustained head and leg injuries.

They were leaving the Tuanku Bainun Teacher Training College in Mengkuang after nominations had closed, when they were set upon at 1.30pm.

- New Straits Times

Now, a lot of bystanders will probably think it has nothing to do with PKR or Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s fight to win the Permatang Pauh seat. Well, I think it has. I think the top leadership are too blind to realise that they have all sorts of hooligans within their party while they continue to blame others for what their own party members are doing.

It is obvious that it is not the first time this type of incident has happened. There are many PKR members who are more violently inclined. They’ve been known to create a huge ruckus and generally be a real nuisance.

They’ve been known to curse and yell at the photographers and also the BN supporters, which incidentally lead to fights. The only problem is, all this was not usually highlighted in the media. Mainly because it went un-noticed due to the huge crowds that usually surge around Anwar wherever he goes. I have to hear about this from the grapevine

Some of these so-called ’security guards’ hired by PKR to keep the ruffians under control are even worse. They’ve been known to act all high and mighty, as if they have been bestowed the greatest power ever, and have no qualms using force to get people to feel ‘their power’.

In fact, I heard that they even told off our Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng’s bodyguard and warned him not to stand too near to Anwar. At that time, Guan Eng was seated next to Anwar on the stage during the rally early this month (the same time as the incident with the female photographer).

And that’s not the worse part. The worse part is that PKR leaders, especially the PKR state secretary Abdul Malik Abul Kassim have no freaking idea that this is going on. He, just like the rest of the PKR leaders, seemed to think that it is the work of ‘others’.

Even Anwar seemed to think it has nothing to do with the party at all.

Speaking to reporters in Penang today, PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim said one should not jump to the conclusion that the perpetrators are party members.

“The mainstream media, (such as state-owned) RTM, will immediately apportion the blame to us. I say, let us investigate and punish those perpetrators, irrespective they are from Pakatan Rakyat or Barisan Nasional,” he said when asked to comment on the incident.

- Malaysiakini

They have not even identified the man who was caught on photograph choking a female photographer when grassroot members are so certain that he is a member of one of the PKR branches on the island. Till today, the man is still roaming free and I won’t be surprised that he’s probably still going to any ceramahs that Anwar has and continue to create more ruckus.

But of course, Anwar said he is not a party member but what about the six others who were also involved in the ruckus? They later surrounded the female photographer and would have beaten her up if not for intervention from another photographer from The Sun.

Referring to a similar incident earlier this month where a female photographer was assaulted by alleged PKR members, Anwar said an investigation later found the perpetrators were not linked to the party. (See photo by TheSun)

- Malaysiakini

Anwar should seriously look at his grassroots so that they do not, in their violent zealousness, throw a spanner into his battle to win the seat. We all know what he’s aiming for the moment he win that seat.

These hooligans may just be mere members (or ‘not members’ as he claimed) but it is enough. The damage is done.

Do we really want hooligans like this to be part of the governing party? It is time that Anwar and Abdul Malik and whoever is in charge to weed out all these ruffians. A few bad hats may not make a party but they still do give the party a ‘wonderful’ reputation and it sure won’t help in Anwar’s campaign.

After all, they don’t want to be known as Parti Keganasan Rakyat, do they?

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